Linked List: June 7, 2012

Thursday, 7 June 2012

‘The Time and Location of This Test Is Just Coincidental’ 

T-Mobile to begin deploying iPhone-compatible 4G service inside Moscone West — next week.

Twitter Gives Us the Bird 

Armin Vit:

For the most part, all the news sources reporting on the revised bird have focused on its visual update, which I will get to soon, but the real story here is that Twitter has dropped its name from the logo. If you look at the opening image of this post, the change is quite drastic. And ballsy. Twitter has achieved in less than six years what Nike, Apple, and Target took decades to do: To be recognizable without a name, just an icon.

Too Metaphorically Perfect to Be True 

That Shell video with the scale model oil rig spewing liquor all over the widow? It’s a hoax, alas. A damn good one, but a fake.

‘Dear Eric Schmidt, It’s Been 6 Months’ 

MG Siegler, celebrating Android-First Day:

But the most interesting reason again ties into something Schmidt said back in December: “With the ICS release our core objective as a company is to get all of the hardware vendors onto that platform.”

I mean, he really said that. And it’s unbelievable because it’s perhaps the most epic fail in the history of epic fails. Google’s “core objective as a company” was to get hardware vendors onto Ice Cream Sandwich (aka Android 4.0), and as of June 1 — seven months after the launch of the OS — 7.1 percent of Android phones are actually on it. Seven. Point. One. Percent.

VGA Ports, Projectors, and Progress 

Just about every response I got to last night’s bit on new PC laptops with VGA ports was along the same lines: of course they have VGA ports, because conference and classroom projectors so often require it.

By that logic, though, PCs would all still have PS/2 ports and floppy drives. Someone has to move away from VGA first — either the PC makers or the projector makers. And as Rob Beschizza points out at Boing Boing, at this point, the size of the VGA port is keeping laptops from getting thinner.

If PC makers wait until there are no VGA projectors in use before they stop putting VGA ports on laptops, they’ve waited too long. Just copy Apple: get rid of the antiquated port, make thinner computers, and sell $20 adaptors for those who need them.

Metaphorically Perfect Shell PR Fiasco 

Like something from an SNL skit, not real life. (Via Cabel Sasser.)

Update: Too good to be true: it’s a hoax.

Virgin Mobile Becomes Second U.S. Carrier to Offer Pre-Paid iPhone 

Plans start at just $30 per month, but you have to pay full price for the iPhone:

The iPhone 4S (16 GB) will cost $649 and iPhone 4 (8 GB) will sell for $549.

It’s a shame they don’t offer the larger-capacity 32 and 64 GB models.

Skating to Where the Puck Was in 1987 

Three brand new PC laptops. The Dell Inspiron R, the Sony Vaio T13112FXS (that name just rolls right off your tongue, no?), and the Toshiba Portege Z935.

All three sport built-in VGA ports.